Another long gap between blogs, I'm sorry for that, but in my defence I have been a little bit poorly of late. Nothing major just the normal blurr feeling I get from time to time all thanks to having the Autoimmune disease called Lupus. For those of you have never heard of Lupus, it's in the same family of illnesses as MS. Basically my body attacks itself and I get a whole array of symptoms such as the feeling of complete exhaustion and severe chest and shoulder pains. At the moment it's just the tiredness that's getting to me and I'm constantly craving sweet surgery treats and drinking gallons of full fat coke. How I wish I didn't love this stuff so much, it really doesn't do me any good, lol. Sadly no sparks of energy have surfaced as yet but I'm hopeful that I will be back to normal (whatever that is) soon.

I drove along the sea front today and what a beautiful day it is. Blue skies with a few wispy clouds and the sea was flat and the most fantastic blue I've seen it for ages. It's the sort of day you'd expect in June, July and August. Almost perfect, shame it's a bit late coming, but I suppose we should be used to crap summers by now.

I have managed to get some work done this last week and managed to make a few extra cards.

Here is one I made using a fan stamp by WS designs. When I first saw it I immediately thought Christmas tree. I'm afraid to say I'm not a pretty fan sort of person, but it does work well used both ways if you do like fans.
Sorry to say, it didn't enter my head to photo the different stages till I was half way through. I will try to remember for next time.
How to make

1. Repeat stamp the fan in a circle on A4 black card with a VersaMark inkpad. Sprinkle on black embossing powder and heat with a heat gun/tool. Trim slightly smaller than a 7x5 card blank. Mix a small amount of red mica powder with water to make a pearly paint and paint the edges of the panel. Wrap a piece of red grosgrain ribbon round the centre, then fix to a 7x5 red card blank
2. Stamp and emboss the fan onto Black card with gold embossing powder. Trim round the tree leaving a small border. Colour in the centre sections of the tree/fan and the edges with the mixed paint. Fix to the card with 2mm foam pads. Cut a rectangle from the offcuts of the backing sheet and paint the ling edges. Fix to the card under the tree to form the trunk with 1mm foam pads.
3. Stamp and emboss your greeting on black card with gold embossing powder. Trim and paint the edges. mount onto a piece of the offcuts from before, then trim and paint the edges. Fix over the bottom of the trunk with 2mm foam pads.
4. Tie a bow from the red ribbon and fix to the trunk. Decorate the card and tree with red and black gems. Optional extra - fold a short piece of ribbon in half and fix to the top right hand corner of the card as a page tab.

This card used one of the new silhouette templates from WS designs. They really are dead easy to use and you can make some stunning cards with them. I used Crafts House Plum Pudding paper pack with this one. I love the fact that they are printed on pearl paper which gives a lovely gentle twinkle in the light How to make

1. Follow the guidelines for the template to cut out your card. Cover the back with the harlequin paper, the frame with the mottled striped paper and the bauble with the multi striped paper.
2. Cut a strip of green glitter card, punch out some holes and fix across the middle of the bauble. Cover the top and the bottom sections of the bauble with red glitter card. Cut a decorative shape from gold and red glitter card and fix on the centre of the bauble.
3. Cut 4 narrow strips from green glitter card and fix across the top and bottom edges of the card. punch a small hole in the top of the bauble, thread a piece of gold ribbon trough and bring round the top of the card then tie a bow.
4. Cut out a bauble shape from the text paper. Decorate with a strip of stripy paper and glitter card. Punch a hole at the top of the bauble and centrally at the top of the back of the card. Thread ribbon through both and tie in a bow.

I love this card, but then I would, I got mice a mucky with the paint, pure bliss. Also used the cuttlebug and one of the die sets.

How to make

1. Paint 3 panels of card with a variety of coordinating coloured Ranger paint dabbers. Allow to dry.
2. Using the dies cut out the designs from the painted panels. Highlight some of the areas on the flowers with a light coloured dabber. Allow to dry
3. Arrange the pieces on your card and fix in place when happy
4. Apply a rub on greeting/message onto a piece of the painted card. Trim and fix to the card as shown with foam pads. Optional extra - ink the edges of some pieces with a dark inkpad to add some extra depth to the card.

Blimey, no blog for ages and then a long one that's taken me a ages to do. I'm needing a little snooze now to recover before tea, lol.

A quick update on how Sammy's doing. He learnt to climb the stairs today, now I have to worry about what's left in his reach up there as well. Not to mention the little steaming surprises he may leave for me... bless him... not. He's also growing at supersonic speed and is now twice the size he was when we first picked him up. His little harness actually fits him properly now, it's a hard man black one and he looks most handsome in it. I wanted to put a few studs in it, but Colin wouldn't let me, the boring old fart, lol. He's slowly getting the hang of going out for little walks, and I only have to drag him part of the way now lolololol.

Enough for now, take care all xxx